Covering for meats



'UNITED STATES (PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD Mnrzenn, or Pirrsnuae, PENNSYLVANIA.

CovERlNG FOUR MEATS.

SPECIFICA'IIN forming part` of Letters Patent No. 367,425, dated August 2,1887.

Application nien ranma; 1e, rsa1; senin Nn. e1-refe. (No marmi To al@ whom, it may concern/:

Be 1t known that I, EDWARD Mn'rzenn, o'f

Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State ot' Pennsylvania, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Covering for Meats; -and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a vertical sectional view illustrating a ham covered according to my invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged section of part of the ham and its covering. Fig. 3A isa plan view of a washer forming part of the invention.

After hams have 'been cured it iscustomary to incase them in a covering of canvas, which is subsequently eoated with a pigment, which fills the pores of the canvas and prevents the access of iiies to the ham. The material of this coveringv and the labor of applying it are expensive and entail additional cost to the cus, tomer.

The object of my invention is to provide a covering for hams which is easily applied and ot'4 little cost.

It consists in enwrapfing the ham with rpaper, of which the first layer is a membranous paper consistingY of vegetable parchment or paper which has been shellaced or treated with paraiiine, pine-tar, or some other substance which will make it resist the action ot' decay and moisture, then covering this with other layers of paper or paper and cloth which are not shellaeed or treated as above described, but are held together by dour paste or some other similar adhesive, the outside layer being finally coated with -a suitable sizing.

The covering is applied as follows: First I wrap the ham in the membranous paper. thenf cover this with a layer of tissue-paper, and dip the ham thus covered in a vessel of ilour paste or some i liquid. A second layer of tissue-paper is then applied, and is in turn dipped in the paste, and thus successive layers of the paper are applied until the'desired thickness of covering is had, eachlayer being stretched or molded to fit neatly on the ham. The last layer of paper is coated with a sizing of silicate of seda, glue, shellae, or some similar substance, which gives a glossy appearance to the covering and ren- .ders it impervious tothe attacks of insects other similar adhesiveV and to the effeetot' water or heat. Thissizing is preferably applied by dipping the ham 1n the sizing after the covering has drled.

I prefer to usc silicate of soda in solution as the sizing for the outer layer it is cheap and easily applied, and because I find it gives a hard stony gloss to the covering, which renders it very impervious to the ai tacks of insects, and by closing the pores erng prevents'evaporation of the juices pf the ham.

The cove when completed is a tightly-fitting, tough, impervious intiegumentresembling in appearance and texture a. membrane of skin. The cost is tritling, and it serves its purpose better than the ordinary canvas cover. Instead of applying the tissue-paper in separate successive layers, it may beapplied by taking several (preferably twenty or more) superposed sheets, or a single sheet doubled upon itself so as to form as many layers. These, when saturated with paste applied to the outer layer, form a unitary pulpy mass which can easily be A`fitted over and molded into the shape of the ham. alayer of textile fabric-such as cheeseclothmay be interposed and o f thelayers of tissue to give the covering greater strength. This, however, is not necessary. I illustrate in Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings a ham covered in this way.

A is the ham, B the layer of parchment-pa`z per, C the layers of tissue-paper, and D an intervening layer of cloth. To attach a-cord to the ham it is passed through the shank, and after being doubled is threaded through a perforated tinv washer or button, E, the membranous paper atthe end oftheshank being turned or doubled in around the cord and under the button. The string is twisted and knotted, as at F. The button prevents the cord from spreading the paper and opening a crack 'for theentrance of flies.- To seal this end more securely, shellac, rosin, material is applied to the, cord around the button, and the cord should be saturated yin pinetar or. some other substance which will resist moisture.

The paper covering ored by putting aniline or other coloring-matduced by using colored paper.

of the cov-` pasted between some or some other sealingi of the ham maybe col-- of paper, because If it is desirable,

I do not limit myself tothe use of tissuey'sive paste, substantially as and for the purl paper for the layers of the covering. Other poses described.

kinds of paper may be used, though the tissue-l Y .2. Acovering for meats, consisting of a layer paper is convenient, because, when itis moistof membranous paper enveloping the meat, 3c .l 5 ened vfith' the paste, it moldsitselfwvery neatly and layers of paper envelopingv the membraintos ane.'

I' am -aware that in Henry A2 Amelungs sive paste, the outside layer being sized, subptent, No. 40,803, there is described a-coverstantially as and forv the purposes described. ing' for hams consisting of layers of tissue-pa.- 3. A covering formeats, consisting of layers 3 5 ro per soaked in asolution of shellac and alum of paper enveloping the meat and secured toin alcohol, with an addition of linseed or olive gether by an adhesive, the outer layer being oil. 'Myinvention differs from this in that the sized with silicate of soda, substantially as and layers of paper in this patent described are for the purposes described; all treated in the same way, whereas in my 14. A paper covering for hamsfiucombiua- 4o I5 covering there are distlnct parts-viz., the iution with acord holding the ham inside the Vside layer of nlembranous paper, an outer covering and projecting outside thereof, anda layer of untreated paper, and preferably an -button covered by the coveringl and encircling outside layer of sizedv paper. In this way I f the cord, substantially as yand for the purposes secure a cheaper covering, which is m'uch described. v v 45 2o stronger and less liable tocrack thanl if all its In testimony whereof I have-hereunto set my layers were shellaced. hand this 18th day ofgOctober, A. D. 1886.

I claim- 1-. Acoveringformeats,consistng,of alayer n' v Y j 'EDWARD METZ-GER "Witnesses:

W. B. CORWIN, THOMAS W. BAKEWELL.

25 and layers of 'paper enveloping the membra- 

